U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,261 to Sommer-Vine states in the Abstract that: “[t]his invention relates to a pipe coupling and, in particular, to a Victaulic-type coupling which generally comprise a pair of half shells, together forming a sleeve which can be placed around adjacent flanged or grooved ends of a pair of pipes which have been located in co-axial end to end relationship for joining. The pipe coupling of the invention comprises a pair of discrete, substantially identical half shells which are engageable with one another to form a coupling sleeve. The half shells each include a hook formation on one end thereof which is interengageable with the hook formation of the other half shell, partly to secure the half shells to one another.”
U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,822 to Sanders et al. discloses in the Abstract that: “[a] hose construction, coupling therefor and methods of making the same are provided, the hose construction comprising a tubular hose and a coupling secured to one end of the tubular hose, the inner peripheral surface of the tubular hose comprising an inner corrugated hose made of polymeric material and having inwardly convex projections with recesses therebetween and extending from one end of the tubular hose to the other end thereof, the coupling having an insert disposed in the one end of the tubular hose and being radially outwardly expanded into sealing relation with the inner corrugated hose, the insert having an outer peripheral surface defined by a plurality of outwardly convex projections with recesses therebetween, the projections of the insert being respectively received in the recesses of the inner hose and the projections of the inner hose being respectively received in the recesses of the insert whereby the interior of the tubular hose is substantially sealed to the interior of the coupling.”
U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,147 to Moreiras et al. discloses at col. 2, lns. 37 et seq. “[i]n accordance with the invention, a flexible hose comprises an inner corrugated tube of polymeric material impervious to the fluid to be conveyed through the hose, an intermediate layer of rubber material surrounding the inner corrugated tube, a braided layer of fiber reinforcement material, and an outer layer of rubber material surrounding the braided layer of fiber reinforcement. The corrugated tube has alternating radially outer ridges and radially outwardly opening grooves axially staggered in relation to alternating radially inner ridges and radially inwardly opening grooves with a void being left at the bottom of the radially outwardly opening grooves. The radially outer ridges of the inner corrugated tube preferably are flat for controlling the degree of penetration of the intermediate rubber layer into the radially outwardly opening grooves.”
U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,942 to Loker states in the Abstract: “[a] coupling and method of coupling thin-walled/tubing and the like includes an inner member and an outer member in the form of a sleeve or band surrounding the inner member with the tubing therebetween. The inner member is provided with a pair of tubing grooves and a seal receiving groove between the two tubing grooves or at least between one groove and the tube receiving end of the coupling. By means of annular ridges, the tubing is forced into the tubing grooves, and by means of an annular ridge the tubing is pressed tightly against the seal in the seal receiving groove, thus forming a fluid-tight coupling member.”
U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,036 to Storke et al states in the Abstract that: “[a] coupling and method of coupling thin-wall hose/tubing and the like includes an inner member, a sleeve surrounding the inner member and the tubing therebetween. The inner member is provided with a pair of tubing grooves and a seal material between the grooves. By means of compression rings or annular ridges the tubing is forced into the tubing grooves and stretched across the seal, thus forming a fluid-tight coupling member.”
It is desirable, therefore, for a hose coupling to retain the hose at high pressure. A hose coupling which is capable of handling high pressure due to long pumping distances is required. For instance, in military applications fluid (which may be fuel) must be pumped long distances from a source to a destination. Longer transport distances (up to 660 feet) increase pump discharge pressures which may be up to 750 psig. Longer transport distances increase the demands on the pumping equipment, the length of the hose, and the number of couplings used to join the hoses together. It is common to run hose lines as long as 660 feet in length. The hose lines can be joined end to end and the transportation of fluids can be extended to several miles. Intermediary pumping stations may be used.
High pressures have heretofore caused difficulties in that large stresses have been applied to hose at pinch points within the couplings. Linear part lines in hose couplings cause particularly prominent problems with leakage as the pinch points perforate the hose. Prior art hose couplings have linear part lines which create linear pinch points. Prior art hose couplings also have sharp edges in the coupling parts which engage the hose and restrict the hose from stretching thus causing excessive tension to specific areas of the hose causing the fabric liner to split.
It is desirable, therefore, to provide a hose coupling which prevents tearing of the hose by allowing the hose to uniformly stretch. It is also desirable to provide a hose coupling device which avoids pinch points and part lines which cause leakage in the hose.
It is desirable to provide a hose which can be operated at high pressures to enable the long distance pumping of the fluid. As discharge pressure of the pump is increased (i.e., higher head), the distance between pumps can be increased or a single pump may be capable of pumping fluid longer distances.